Chapter 559 - 235: Shen Yuan’s Joint Exam Scores
Chapter 559: Chapter 235: Shen Yuan’s Joint Exam Scores
Sunlight streamed through the cold glass windows of the science building, lazily settling on his brow, which was furrowed in frustration.
Just then, a faint CLICK came from beside him.
It was Li Zhi, capping her pen.
Shen Yuan glanced sideways and saw the beautiful girl sitting at an angle, her elbow propped on the desk and her chin cupped in her hand, watching him.
Her clear eyes held no particular emotion. She was simply watching him intently, with a knowing look that seemed to see right through him.
"Hey."
Li Zhi’s voice, though not loud, sounded exceptionally clear to Shen Yuan, whose mind was completely preoccupied with his grades.
He subconsciously straightened up a bit, his face still showing traces of his anxiety. "Hm?"
Li Zhi pressed her soft, pink lips together for a moment, as if carefully considering her words.
She blinked, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow in the light, and then spoke in a tone that was somewhere between comforting and teasing.
"Calm down. Worrying about it is useless."
That opening sounded reasonable enough. Shen Yuan’s tightly furrowed brow had just started to relax a bit—
—when Li Zhi’s follow-up comment, delivered with a slight lilt and a matter-of-fact tone, came drifting down to crush him:
"Maybe... you won’t even score a 660?"
Shen Yuan instantly felt as though something had caught in his throat. The breath he was about to let out was trapped in his chest, nearly choking him to the point of his eyes rolling back.
His pupils dilated. The anxiety on his face was instantly replaced by a sense of sheer absurdity, leaving him at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.
He whipped his head around, his gaze zeroing in on Li Zhi’s small, impassive face like a searchlight.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
"...Huh?!"
Shen Yuan finally managed to force an incredulous sound from his throat. He shot bolt upright from his slumped posture, his voice rising in pitch from sheer shock and absurdity.
"Listen to yourself! Just listen! Do you call that comforting someone?!"
"Are you trying to comfort me or are you just twisting the knife in the wound, huh?!"
Shen Yuan’s accusation was practically an anguished cry, his voice filled with an indignation that seemed to ask, ’Are you even my girlfriend?!’
Li Zhi watched his reaction—like that of a large dog whose tail had just been stepped on—and a cunning glint of success flashed through her clear eyes.
Then, she reverted to her usual impassive expression. She even tilted her head slightly, her gaze innocent and earnest, as if to say, ’Did I say something wrong? Isn’t that a perfectly reasonable guess?’
"Bleh..."
The beautiful girl turned her face away, her gaze returning to her open book, as if her "comforting" words were as insignificant as brushing away a fallen leaf.
Shen Yuan’s anxiety over his grades was a common phenomenon.
In fact, besides Shen Yuan, at least half of Class 15—and indeed, half of all the third-years at Jiyang High School—were feeling anxious.
Even Li Bao was getting a little anxious.
After all, this city-wide joint exam carried a lot of weight.
Over the next five days, time seemed to slow to a crawl while they waited for their scores, staggering forward amidst the clamor of the approaching winter break and the unique tension of being a third-year student.
The first and second-years went on break right after their final exams. On the same day, the third-years moved from the science building back to their regular classrooms.
Seeing the long-missed air conditioner, Ah Jie felt an urge to drop to his knees and kiss the remote, then set the central air to heat at 28 degrees Celsius, fan speed on auto, louvers oscillating up, down, left, and right, with auxiliary heat engaged.
To him, those were the sacred settings, representing a complete break from the bitter cold.
For Shen Yuan, however, this welcome warmth became a bittersweet problem.
It meant he had lost his best and most legitimate excuse to have Li Zhi snuggle up to him for warmth!
Although the heat from his "excess Yang Qi" was enough to turn him into a walking furnace in the dead of winter, it now felt rather redundant.
All he could do was gaze forlornly at her sitting beside him; even inching his arm closer to hers no longer felt so justifiable.
Soon, however, Shen Yuan got over it.
Because Li Zhi took off her down jacket.
The thick jacket slid from her shoulders, revealing the form-fitting cashmere sweater she wore underneath.
The warm air brushed against her newly exposed shoulders and neck. Beneath the soft fabric, her graceful waistline tapered, outlining proud curves.
Shen Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. The bit of gloom he’d felt over not being able to cuddle was instantly vaporized by the even more stunning sight before him.
He suddenly thought the air conditioner’s temperature... was actually pretty perfect.
’Though, in my current state,’ he mused, ’it’s probably better not to cuddle just yet.’
After the past two mornings, Shen Yuan had gained a profound understanding of just how vigorous his Yang Qi could be.
The ten-minute break between classes was a brief respite.
However, unless something special came up, Shen Yuan would still choose to stay at his desk and use his Concentration ability to get into study mode.
It saved him from wondering all day long whether those damn scores were out yet.
Of course, whenever Li Zhi wanted to step out for some fresh air, Shen Yuan would follow the beautiful girl out into the chilly corridor to catch a breath with her.
The winter sunlight streamed in through the windows, casting their long, slanted shadows side-by-side on the floor.
Looking at the empty classrooms of the first and second-year building across the way, the fact that he was now a senior would hit Shen Yuan all over again.
Shen Yuan would occasionally whisper some random observations to Li Zhi, like how Ah Jie was secretly brewing goji berries in his thermos that morning, or how his Eldest Female Cousin had recently decided she wanted to start dating.
Sometimes, He Zhiyu would drag Zhuo Peipei over, excitedly holding up her phone to show them details of a new story snippet she had written. The scene was based on the "official relationship announcement" photo they had taken, which always made Li Zhi blush and try to cover He Zhiyu’s mouth.